Arizona has chosen its next two sports betting licensees.
The Arizona Department of Gaming (ADoG) has awarded an event wagering license to Sporttrade and Plannatech. Both companies’ licenses will be tethered to tribes; Sporttrade will partner with the Quechan Indian tribe of the Fort Yuma Indian reservation and Plannatech with San Carlos Apache Tribal Gaming Enterprise.
In doing so, Sporttrade takes over the Quechan-tethered license vacated by Unibet’s exit and Plannatech takes over WynnBet’s license as that brand winds down across the U.S.
Sporttrade is already live in Iowa and Colorado as a sportsbook and also offers exchange wagering in New Jersey. Its CEO Alexander Kane wrote on social media that he is the brand is “laser-focused on delivering a premium experience to folks in Arizona.”
U.K.-based Plannatech is a B2B platform provider that powers Prime Sportsbook, which is live in New Jersey and Ohio. The ADoG didn’t explicitly mention Prime by name in its release.
Arizona is able to hand out 20 licenses for event wagering, 10 each to tribal casinos and pro sports franchises. It had two open licenses within the tribal category. The ADoG had been looking for more sportsbooks to enter its market for the last several weeks after opening an application window in July. At that time, it said it would award at least one license in each of the two categories.
Arizona landscape keeps shifting
Since ADoG opened the application window in June, three other sportsbooks have announced their intention to leave the Grand Canyon State.
SaharaBets shut down in its only state of operation in early July. The brand was partnered with the Arizona Coyotes, but that team is relocating to Utah. Franchise and sportsbook owner Alex Mereulo failed to secure a future opportunity for the license in Arizona and so SaharaBets deserted the state in July.
Around the same time, Super Group announced it would cease Betway‘s sports betting operations in nine U.S. markets, including Arizona, in order to focus on iGaming. That move followed an “extensive internal review,” which determined it would be a long time before the brand had profitability potential.
Then, SuperBook shut down its platforms outside of Nevada later last month. The sportsbook, which was partnered with the Fort Mojave Indians, stopped taking bets in Arizona and seven other states on July 19.
